Home based business can give you an opportunity to be your own boss. Internet has provided a variety of wonderful opportunities for people who want to do business from the comfort of their homes. It is very apt to say that home based business has taken the world by storm.

There are now more than a hundred ways you can make money online. Even if you are employed somewhere you have the option of starting your home based business on a part time basis and establish on this front before you decide to get away from your current job. The important thing; however is to take the first step.

Initially, you can start putting in an hour a day towards your home based business. Slow and steady work can establish your presence. Within a year you will be fully ready and equipped with various contacts and enough work and you can set up your own office.

Reinvest profits intelligently:

During your first year, whatever extra income you make from your part time work could go into buying assets which in turn will generate profit or additional income in future. Investing smart and getting your money to grow is sure to make you eventually comfortable enough to enable you to be your own boss. It is therefore important that you do not spend all the money you make from your initial part time home based business indiscriminately. After you accumulate a certain amount of money in your savings account, it makes sense to put it in a fixed deposit which yields a higher rate of interest. With the little extra effort your money will multiply faster. Make your hard earned money grow exponentially.

Once your home based business starts growing in volume and looks more lucrative, you can take the next step and try to work part time for your boss and spend the rest of your time establishing your own business at home. It is better to go about this cautiously before totally coming out of a regular job. You could reduce your weekly workdays in your office to three or four days.

This will ensure your boss is not completely left in the lurch. You could spend the remaining days of the week bringing up your own business at home. Continue this system till you feel confident enough your home based business can support your family expenses and give you considerable savings every month.

You will have to make sure your business will be able to afford paying your monthly insurance payments. Only then is it prudent to completely come out of your regular job.

Involve the family if you can:

Get your whole family involved in your business. Distribute and invest your assets between all members of your family. This will provide a lot of confidence especially for your children. Independent income gives a child, especially if he or she is a teenager a lot of confidence. This will also ensure they are kept out of trouble. The time you spend with them is sure to give them a secure feeling.

A teenager who owns assets in his name is sure to be more positive and confident in his behavior. If your children know you are at home all the time it gives them a feeling of security. Your spouse is also sure to be happy and content with the amount of time he or she is spending with you.

o Education: Is the key to all you want to do and be in life. You can’t do a whole lot if you don’t know how! Choosing an area you want to learn more about requires some contemplation and soul searching. Figure out what you are passionate about and then go after it. There are a wide variety of ways to become educated and everyone knows school is a very valuable tool to get you there. But there is also self learning. Reading is an excellent tool. The internet is as well. You must have the drive to seek the knowledge.

o Relaxation: Our bodies are temples and as such, we need to take care of them. Living and working in a stressful environment day in and day out will take a toll on your body. The major effected area being our brain. Exposed to an overload of stress basically kills our brain cells in the area we need most for memory and learning. A certain amount of stress is a good thing; it forces our brains to be challenged and therefore enhances our creativity. But the overload is what does the most damage. Learning relaxation techniques is imperative to our wellbeing and gives us the best investment into our minds and bodies.

o Creatively: Some people like music, some art, some dance, some drama, and others everything in the world around us. People watching is very popular. This type of investment makes you appreciate the world around us and different types of people and personalities.

o Skill sets: Learning the things that give us the ability to perform our tasks in a competent way so as to bring value to our jobs and ourselves. There are different types of skills.

1. The ones we learn to do various jobs with. They are learned skills that will never be forgotten and can be used anywhere. Things like organization, paying attention to detail and the ability to analyze what works and what doesn’t.

2. Then there are skills that we have learned to be able to perform a certain type of job. Nurses learn how to take care of wounds, do assessments, the different types of medications to be used, etc. Computer technicians learn about programming, information r/t computers, repairing them, etc. Heating and air servicemen learn about heat volumes, compressors, refrigeration, equipment used to perform their tasks efficiently, etc.

3. We each have our own little unique ways of living, of addressing people, of going about our daily lives. “Patience is a virtue” but it is also a skill! “Brainstorming” is a popular term but it is also a skill! How we get along with others is a skill. Our coping mechanisms are also skills. Things that pertain to how we carry ourselves and interact with different types of people and situations on different levels are also our skills!

So, as you can see, there is a wide range of ways of investing in yourself obviously depending on what you are seeking from your life. So, investigate what makes you happy, healthy and whole and learn about it. You will live a very different life if you pursue your passions and invest in yourself!

As the pundits debate if we are in a recession or in a depression, companies are looking forward to see what they can do to get back in to growth mode. We looked back at the learning from the past recessions, and have come up with a list of things that have worked well in the past and are likely to work well again in the current environment.

1. Improve cash flow. This is by far the most important thing to do for companies looking to survive and prosper in recessions. As simple as this may sound, increasing sales is not the only way to improve cash flow. We are constantly amazed by how lax businessmen and organizations become in good times and how much room there is for improvement. Some simple and effective ways to improve cash flow include:

2. Maintain a good cash position. Since no one really knows when a recession ends and the next growth cycle starts, it is imperative that companies maintain a good cash position through the down cycle. Cash cushion is critical for a company and also puts the company in a strong position vis-à-vis suppliers and bankers.

3. Consider an active acquisition strategy. During a recession, there will be a lot of good opportunities to expend cash to invest in undervalued assets or businesses that provide strong cash flow. Retain a competent advisor to develop and implement a cohesive acquisition plan.

4. Understand how customers determine value in tough times. Tailor product offerings to more closely reflect the changed customer needs. The key is to provide more value to the customers without sacrificing margins. Look for creative product and service bundling opportunities and keep on constant lookout for ways to retain existing customers. Keep in mind that attracting new customers is several times more expensive than retaining existing customers.

5. Fine tune marketing campaigns. Recessionary time is typically not the best time to cut marketing spending but is the time to use the marketing budget more wisely to increase return and create a stronger brand. Look for competition that is unable to address client needs and go after their customers. Customer acquisition costs are much lower for you if your competitor is going out of business. Target some of the marketing dollars to go after customers of companies that are going out of business. For the stronger companies, recessions are the best time to gain market share.

6. Negotiate long term supplier deals at below market rates. Can you get an extraordinary lease on a prime property because someone else went out of business and the landlord is desperate to get a tenant? Can you negotiate a favorable long term advertising rate? Recessions are the best times to lock in long term supplier deals. Good deals are nearly impossible to get when the market is hot.

7. Build or improve your distribution/sales channels. In tough times, distributors and sales people are hungry for business. Current channels may be more receptive to your needs. Some desirable channels that were not open to your company before may open up. You may be able to negotiate more favorable terms from your existing distribution channel or get a stronger channel to replace your current channel more cost effectively.

8. Stay away from general cuts across the board. Cuts, if needed, should be in areas that do not create value or business areas that are not part of the core business. Look to divest or outsource non-core operations and invest in areas that are the future growth areas of the company.

9. Build employee loyalty. Employees will remember you for sticking with them through the tough times. Operate the business by emphasizing core values and leading by example. When tough decisions need to be made, solicit employee feedback. Use slow times to invest in employee training and developing compelling marketing and sales strategies and tactics. Communicate profusely and make sure the morale stays high.

10. Have a clear vision of where the company needs to be when the recession is over. Managing your business is a lot about allocation of resources and prioritizing where to prune and where to grow. Having a clear vision helps make tough choices that need to be made along the way.

Work out a solid plan. Implement it. Grow your business during this recession!